Read My Mr. Manny for Free Online

on the chair a bit more tightly to battle the coolness of the night. “We’ve settled on everything,” I continued. “He gave me half of everything except the house — that he left to me entirely. His attorney was pissed, but I guess Alex was trying to do something right.”
    “Ugh, that’s just so wrong.” Lori sounded disgusted. “So he’s going to fill your pocketbook and pretend that takes care of all he’s done?” she spat through the phone.
    “I guess, but it’s not like I had him around over the years anyway. I did everything on my own.” I leaned my head back, trying to figure out what I had done to keep our marriage alive since Lucia had been born. I shook my head at myself in chastisement. And then I told her what I didn’t want to believe myself: “God — and this is going to sound bitchy — but I didn’t need him for anything, and, in all honesty, I’ve come to the conclusion that it was how I wanted it.” I sighed at the truth. “I’ll be set for a while. But he didn’t want visitation rights at all. He said he didn’t know Lucia before and doesn’t want to now. That it’s too late. Ugh! That’s what has me so upset. Her own father doesn’t want her. I mean who does that?” I gritted through clenched teeth.
    All the stress I suffered during the divorce was centered around my daughter. The new, big lines between my eyebrows were from worrying about how Lucia would be affected.
    “Excuse me?” Lori yelled.
    I pulled the phone from my ear and smirked; leave it to my loyal cousin to be as upset as me.
    “You heard me. I don’t even think he’ll ever want to see her. I think he’s going to relinquish his rights altogether.” I sighed and prepared myself for her reaction. “And don’t yell, but I didn’t ask for child support either,” I whispered. If he didn’t want her, I rationalized, then he shouldn’t have to pay for her. She was mine, and I would care for her just as I always had: on my own.
    ~*~*~
    Lori and her husband, Chris, were visiting for a week. We had plans to barbecue at the regional park on July third, which was when our neighboring city put on the fireworks show.
    We spent the day before making all of the typical picnic food. My dad was responsible for reserving us a spot at the crack of dawn and for barbequing. Dad and I didn’t spend a whole lot of time together, even though he lived in the same community I did. We both worked a lot, and when too much time passed without speaking, I’d call him and invite him over for dinner. He was a loner, and I was starting to believe I was turning out to be just like him in that regard.
    When I’d first moved to California to live with him, we had gotten along just fine by staying out of each other’s way for the most part. The physical affection we shared from my infancy was long gone after he left. Once we were geographically close again, he tried for a long time to hug and kiss me, but stopped after I rebuffed him too many times. Regardless of how much I chastised myself for doing it, knowing it hurt him, I couldn’t stop. I just couldn’t make the effort to show him much affection at all. Sure, we laughed and joked a lot and even did some fun things together, but our everyday activities were often done alone. He would go to work, and I would go to school.
    Susan and my work friend, Danielle, her husband, and their seven-year-old son were going to spend the day with us, too. I had met Danielle at work and had fallen into an easy friendship with her. Recently, Lucia and I had spent a lot of time with Danielle and her family doing different activities. I thought from the moment I first saw her that Danielle was very beautiful. She was at least six feet tall with long legs and torso. Her tiny waist emphasized her small, high ass. She had the type of body that made women seethe in jealousy, and her striking, yellowish-green eyes were so different from anything I had ever seen. They were accentuated by her short,